Comcast, TWC haunt bottom of ACSI’s customer satisfaction index

Potential partners Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) were cellar dwellers in both the pay-TV service provider and ISP category of the recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) of communications industries. Comcast nailed a pay-TV score of 60 and ISP score of 57, and TWC came in at 56 and 54 respectively on a 100-point scale.Recently betrothed AT&T (NYSE: T) and DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV), meanwhile, did a little better, both topping the subscription TV index at 69 and, with DirecTV lacking a broadband arm, scoring a respectable 65 as an ISP.Overall, ISPs dropped 3.1 percent to an overall score of 63 while subscription TV dropped even more precipitously–4.4 percent to 65. The two industries ranked worst among 43 tracked by ACSI.

Comcast fell 5 percent to 60 and Time Warner Cable slipped even further, down 7 percent to 56.

“Comcast and Time Warner assert their proposed merger will not reduce competition because there is little overlap in their service territories (but) it it’s a concern when two poor-performing service providers combine operations,” David VanAmburg, ACSI director said in an organization press release. “ACSI data consistently show that mergers in service industries usually result in lower customer satisfaction, at least in the short term. It’s hard to see how combining two negatives will be a positive for consumers.”